The indifferent. Issue 2 (3rd July 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bell, Deanne
• Is Part Of: Qualitative research in psychology. Volume 15:Issue 2/3(2018)
• Page Start: 140
• Page End: 155
• Publication Date: 2018-07-03
• Subjects: apathy -- bystanding -- coloniality -- psychological portraiture -- social indifference; Psychology -- Research -- Periodicals; Qualitative research -- Periodicals; 150.72
• DOI: 10.1080/14780887.2018.1429841
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1478-0887

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article presents a portrait of indifference, a psychosocial analysis of middle class bystanding of social suffering. It arises as a way to tell a research story of colonially produced racism, classism, and denial. Together, these ways of being produce a mode of perception that denies reality, an active erasure that makes the indifferent apathetic. It is based on research in postcolonial Jamaica, yet some of its features can be recognized elsewhere, where bystanders bury their witness, their insight, concealing their understanding of other's pain. Because this portrait is based on what male and female research participants said, "he/she" are used interchangeably throughout the portrait.